Survey at CSAPP

Researchers from the Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes (CSAPP) based in the Psychology Division of the University of Northampton are interested in whether people seek support following an anomalous experience. They acknowledge that anomalous experiences can be both distressing and positive and would like to know where people go if they want to discuss the meaning of the experience or seek support:

https://survey.northampton.ac.uk/care

OBE Research Study at Nottingham Trent University

Have you had one or more Out-of-Body Experiences (OBEs) in which it seems as if your sense of self or consciousness has become separated from your physical body? These experiences can occur under a variety of conditions. If you have experienced one or more OBEs researchers at Nottingham Trent University  are interested in hearing from you.

The aim of their research is to develop an OBE ‘screening’ scale which will be able to more precisely identify whether someone has had an OBE. At present no such tool exists for OBEs. Their research is not testing your experience in relation to psychological variables as is commonly done in OBE research, but instead explores the content of the experience itself to better understand it and differentiate it from other experiences.

To do this they would like your help by asking you if you would fill in an online questionnaire anonymously about the individual aspects of one of your OBEs. Your inclusion of this experience is important as it will contribute to the development of the scale. You can access the questionnaire by clicking on the link below.

The questionnaire includes full information on the study to enable you to decide whether or not to participate and offers a general definition of the OBE.

The inclusion criteria for this study (aside from your experience fitting our definition) are:

• You have no known organic condition which causes you to be prone to visual hallucinations
• You are able to provide informed consent
• You are over 18 years old
• You are able to provide a short written account of your OBE in English
• You are able to recall all of the OBE you wish to tell us about (i.e. not just give a partial account of it)

You won’t need to note these down but please only participate if you can agree with these criteria.

The survey can be completed by clicking the link below:

https://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/ntupsychology/obequestionnaire

Closing date of the survey is: 31st July 2014

If you wish to find out more about the survey, or wish to take part and have any queries, please contact Andrew Hodrien at: andrew.hodrien@ntu.ac.uk.

Exceptional Experiences Survey

Dr. Christine Simmonds-Moore (Assistant Professor of psychology in the psychology department, University of West Georgia)  is currently undertaking a survey investigation into exceptional experiences. The survey is looking to understand more about factors influencing when people have and do not have exceptional experiences. She would love to hear from you whether you have had any exceptional experiences or not: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/UWGexperiences

Historical Research at the University of British Columbia

Have you experienced objects that repeatedly moved on their own with no apparent explanation? If so, Christopher Laursen, a Ph.D student at the University of British Columbia, would like to hear from you - particularly if you had such experiences prior to 1990.

Visit his Extraordinarium website for more details.

Call for Participants: University of Central Lancashire

Ann Winsper, a PhD student at the University of Central Lancashire, is currently carrying out research investigating what people report hearing when listening to sound clips where it is unclear what is being heard. She is looking at connections between a number of different personality measures and characteristics and seeing if these affect what people report hearing.

Participants must be over 18 years of age.

She is currently recruiting for the first part of this study, which requires filling out a questionnaire pack that she can email or post to you. The questionnaires should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete. The questionnaires in the pack do cover a broad range of topics which include attitudes and belief in the paranormal and life after death, and other possibly sensitive subjects. While the study covers paranormal themes, participants are invited from a wide range of beliefs and experiences (including skeptics).

Once you have completed the questionnaire, you will be able to take part in further elements of the study, if you so wish.

Please contact arwinsper@uclan.ac.uk if you wish to take part in this study, or if you require more information.

Human Experiences Survey

Researchers Dr. Carlos S. Alvarado and Dr. Christine Simmonds-Moore are interested in learning more about a variety of human experiences, some of which are unusual, but are by no means uncommon in the general population. They are undertaking an online survey to explore individual differences, synesthesia (the tendency for some people to experience two senses together, e.g., colored words or numbers; tasting shapes; spatially organized calendars, etc.), and a variety of anomalous experiences (for example, extrasensory perception).

They would very much appreciate it if you would take the time to complete this online questionnaire, even if you have never experienced the things described on the questionnaire.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HumanExperiencesSurvey

Please email Dr. Christine Simmonds-Moore if you have any questions about the survey.
Christine Simmonds-Moore, Ph.D.
University of West Georgia, csimmond@westga.edu

Online Survey Investigating Experiences of Ghostly Phenomena

Dr. Simon Sherwood at the University of Northampton (UK) is conducting an investigation of ghostly phenomena, the circumstances in which it is reported, and the characteristics of people who have and have not experienced it.

You are invited to take part in an online survey.  You need to be at least 18 years of age to take part but you do not have to have experienced ghostly phenomena.

If you are interested in taking part then please visit https://survey.northampton.ac.uk/ghostly.

Online Survey on Parapsychological Experiences

A request from Carlos S. Alvarado, Ph.D., from the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia:

I am conducting an on-line survey to learn more about a variety of experiences many people have had in their daily lives. I hope your answers will help me determine how common these experiences are.

I really hope you will help me in my task! All you have to do is fill out an on-line questionnaire. Completing the questionnaire should take youless than 30 minutes. Whatever your answers may be, whether or not you have had the experiences I mention, your answers are just as important and valuable! Be assured that all your answers will be held in the strictest confidence, and the findings will be presented in such a way that no individual could possibly be singled out or recognized. (There is more information on this issue and other issues in the cover letter and consent form that are included in the on-line questionnaire.)

If you took the on-line questionnaire that I was involved with a couple of years ago, you will find that the demographic, dream and parapsychological experiences questions are pretty much the same. But because the body of the questionnaire is quite different, I hope you won’t mind answering the demographic, dream and parapsychological experiences questions again.

If you’re interested in taking part in the survey, please go to the following website to begin the process: www.studyofhumanexperiences.org/index.html

Windbridge Recruiting Sitters for Research

Are you interested in receiving a mediumship reading as a volunteer in a scientific research study?

The Windbridge Institute is currently seeking volunteers to act as sitters who will receive and score mediumship readings as part of on-going research about life after death and the abilities of mediums.

(Windbridge is not recruiting mediums at this time.)

For more information, please visit: http://www.windbridge.org/sitters.html

Spirituality Questionnaire

Megan Walberg, an undergraduate student from the University of Toronto, would like to invite you to participate in an online study. She and her supervisor are working on developing a standard questionnaire to assess the breadth of one's spirituality, as well as constructing a tool to support investigations of spirituality (and healing) and its relationship to various health outcomes. The study can be completed online and takes approximately 1 hour. Upon completion you have the opportunity to obtain a free comprehensive personality report and can enter the draw to win a $100 gift certificate for Amazon.com. The following url will take you to the study: http://jbplab.net/survey .


Editor's Note:  This study is now closed.  Thanks to all who participated.

Windbridge Institute Study

The Windbridge Institute is in need of research volunteers for an online study. Participants in this study will be asked to visit a specific website and listen to a selection of different sounds (audio files). Participants will then be asked to complete an on-line survey with questions about what they heard. The study takes about an hour to complete.

More details are available at http://www.windbridge.org/study.html. Please use 'pubpara' as your participant code.

Precognition Study at Liverpool Hope University

Research Participants Needed for Study on Eye Movements and the Precognition of Emotional Faces

Researchers at Liverpool Hope University in the UK are studying conscious and unconscious measures associated with the precognition of emotional faces. Prior to coming to the scheduled experimental session, you would be asked to complete a short personality questionnaire. At the experimental session, you would be seated in front of a computer screen and asked to take part in one or two calibration tests such that the Eyetracker equipment can accurately measure your eye movements during the experiment itself (this is non invasive and undertaken by simply watching some images appear on the screen in front of you).

When the experiment begins, you would take part in some practice trials prior to the start of the experimental session. During each trial, you would be asked to watch the screen as a series of seven randomly ordered emotional faces are presented to you. You do not have to do anything other than watch the screen (the eye tracker will be monitoring the way your eyes are processing each face).

The emotions that you will see reflect happy, neutral, sad, fear, anger, disgust and surprise the emotions. After you have seen all seven faces, you would be asked to make a choice as to which of the seven faces will be selected by the computer and appear in the future. You will do this by making a button press on the computer key pad.

Following your choice, you will receive feedback on whether you were correct or not (and see the face that was selected by the computer). You will take part in 35 “trials” after which time, the computer will give you feedback on your overall ESP performance.

This study takes around 30 minutes to complete!

Please contact Christine Simmonds-Moore on simmonc@hope.ac.uk or (0151) 291 2158 if you would like to take part in this study.

ESP Study at Liverpool Hope University

Aesthetic Preference, Subliminal Perception and ESP Study

Researchers at Liverpool Hope University in the UK are studying processes that affect people’s preferences for visual images. In total, the study takes approximately 90 minutes to complete. Prior to coming to the scheduled experimental session, you will complete a personal information questionnaire which includes a short battery of questions about your experiences and attitudes. This part of the experiment will take approximately 30 minutes to complete.

At the experimental session, the first part of your participation will be administered by a computer. The second part of your participation will consist of the completion of the NEO-PI personality inventory. This part of the experiment will take approximately 60 minutes to complete.

At the experimental session, you will be asked to watch the screen as pictures are flashed very briefly, and then asked to rate how well you like a series of pictures.

The pictures range from marginally negative to pleasant, and none contain explicit sexual content. The marginally negative pictures are no different to being exposed to images that one might see on the television (e.g., in the news).

By signing up and coming to the laboratory at the appointed time, you are only giving your initial consent to participate in the study. You are free to withdraw your participation at any time without any penalty – even after the study has begun.

The hypotheses of the study will be fully explained to you as soon as you complete your session. The identity of your data will be kept confidential, and only group results will be reported.

To thank you for your time, and to cover refreshment expenses we will pay each participant £5.00.

Please contact Christine Simmonds-Moore at simmonc@hope.ac.uk or (0151) 291 2158 if you would like to take part in this study.

ESP Experiment at University of Edinburgh

Researchers at University of Edinburgh are looking for people who are native english speakers and who have had at least one paranormal experience. You need to be able to come to Edinburgh in order to participate in an Extra-sensory perception (ESP) experiment and to complete questionnaires about your paranormal experiences, personality, and well-being. The whole experiment lasts 45 minutes and you will be paid £5. If you are interested in participating and would like further information about the study, please send an email to espexperiment@gmail.com.

Experienced Healers Wanted

Experienced healers who practice distance healing are invited to participate in an online questionnaire study of individual differences amongst healers. Participants will be compensated for their time. Please contact Alison Easter at the University of Edinburgh for more information: a.r.easter@sms.ed.ac.uk

Accounts of Sleep Paralysis Experiences Wanted

Dr. Chris French of the Anomalistic Psychology Unit at Goldsmiths College is currently writing a piece on sleep paralysis and would like to illustrate it with a few vivid personal accounts from sufferers. Sleep paralysis, in its most basic form, refers to the common experience that many people have of being half-awake and half-asleep, and realizing that one cannot move. That in itself can be quite scary. But it's sometimes accompanied by visual and/or auditory hallucinations, a strong sense of presence, pressure on the chest and difficulty breathing, and intense fear. Sleep paralysis can be extremely upsetting but is essentially harmless. However, it is often misinterpreted as a visitation by spirits or aliens.

If you have had such an experience, Dr. French would love to hear from you - preferably with a nice description of your experience about 200-300 words long. Email him at c.french@gold.ac.uk

APRU Telephone Telepathy Experiments

The Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit (APRU) at Goldsmiths, University of London is currently engaged in a collaborative research project with Dr Rupert Sheldrake investigating the phenomenon of "telephone telepathy". This is the fairly common experience of feeling that you know who is calling you on the telephone before you answer it - even on occasions when you had no particular reason to expect a call from that person. Obviously, skeptics and believers in the paranormal have different explanations for what is going on in such situations, but Rupert Sheldrake claims to have demonstrated that a genuinely paranormal phenomenon may be in operation here. The only way to find out is to carry out well controlled empirical studies and that is what researchers at the APRU are doing.

They are looking for volunteers to act as participants in this experiment, people who feel that telepathy is possible in relation to phone calls - knowing who is ringing before they answer the phone. Each volunteer is asked to find 4 people who this might happen with. The test itself should take less than an hour and a half. During this period, the volunteer will be in one building, being filmed on videotape, and the four callers will be in another building. They will be selected at random by the throw of a dice for a series of ten trials. The person who is selected to make the call will also be filmed on video while calling the participant.

These videos are for research purposes only, and will not be shown in public unless those involved give their permission. All those who take part will remain anonymous in any publications or reports about this work. The APRU has limited funding for this project but they are offering a payment of £50 total to each group of people who take part, that is to say the volunteer and his/her four callers. They can also cover some travel costs, and can provide more details if requested.

Note that the APRU only wants people who genuinely believe that they often have this experience to take part as the "receivers" in this study. Obtaining null findings from a bunch of skeptics wouldn't really prove anything...

If you might be interested in taking part (or know someone who might be), further details can be found at http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/apru/telephone-telepathy.php

You can sign up for this and other projects at http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/apru/participate-research.php

New Survey Study

A new survey is being conducted by Drs. Carlos S. Alvarado and Nancy L. Zingrone. They would like to invite everyone to take part. The study focuses on a variety of experiences folks may have had in their daily lives. Your answers, whether they are positive or negative, will help them to understand these experiences better. To take the survey go to the following website: http://www.studyofhumanexperiences.org.

Telepathy EEG Correlations in Distantly Located Participants

Have you ever picked up the phone and knew it was your sister?

Or you dreamed something and it really happened like that afterwards?

In a recent survey, 45% of those who responded said that they had personal experience of telepathic communication. However, research over the last 70 years has provided enough evidence to convince some scientists that phenomena such as telepathy and clairvoyance do exist and may be occurring some of the time throughout the general population.

Within their study about the measurement of EEG correlations in distantly located participants, researchers in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Northampton are looking for emotionally strongly-connected pairs of subjects (e.g. best friends, couples, twins, mother & daugher, father & grandfather) 18 years and older to participate.

This study will be conducted by Ursula Mochty, Dr. Thilo Hinterberger and Professor Harald Walach at the University of Northampton/UK in cooperation with Devi Erath and Dr. Stefan Schmidt at University clinic Freiburg/Germany.

This experiment will use EEG and skin conductance recordings to test for possible evidence of unconscious telepathy between a visually stimulated and non-stimulated person. The EEG recordings will take place in the laboratory in Northampton, England and in Freiburg, Germany at the same time. The stimulated participant will be trying to send information to their partner about their reaction to images that s/he is seeing, while both are in separate locations. The experiment will take place on one day and will last for about 4 hours. You will be fully reimbursed for your time and we will pay for all travel expenses.

If interested please contact:

Ursula Mochty, Dipl.Psych., MA
Psychology Division
University of Northampton
Park Campus
Boughton Green Road
NN2 7AL
Northampton

Tel: 0044 – 1604 – 89 - 2377 oder 2486
e-Mail: telepathy.NH@googlemail.com

Call for Participants: The Foundations of 'Superstitious' Beliefs

Dr. Jeff Rudski, an associate professor of psychology at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania is looking for participants to answer a short online survey for his research looking at the foundations of 'superstitious' beliefs. He has forwarded me the following request.

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I'm looking for participants for a research project examining the basis for various beliefs often called "superstitious". Many scientists look at these beliefs and dismiss them claiming that there is no reliable scientific evidence to support the claims. While that may or may not be true, the beliefs still persist. Thus, the beliefs are real, and a better understanding of their foundations will help inform us on how beliefs work in general.

One theory of cognition states that we actually have 2 different modes of thought: rational and intuitive. For instance. I don't believe in ghosts. I haven't been persuaded by the evidence. However, I'm terrified of ghost stories and horror movies. This emotional reaction suggests to me that the belief in ghosts resonates within me, although not according to my 'rational' thought processes.

To examine this 'split belief' (rational versus intuitive), several students and I have constructed a survey (that takes most participants approximately 20 minutes to fill out) that asks for the basis of beliefs in various paranormal phenomena. Afterwards, was ask questions to assess your rational-intuititve orientation, as well as several questions addressing your beliefs on tensions between science- and faith-based ways of knowing. I also provide information on how you can be kept apprised of the results.

The survey can be found at http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB226XW9V5KWV

The research has been approved by Muhlenberg College's Institutional Review Board. Thank you for your consideration. Your participation will be quite valuable.

Jeff Rudski, Ph.D
Associate Professor of Psychology
Muhlenberg College

Allentown PA
rudski@muhlenberg.edu